The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1887-10-21
Conversation.

rorsotiong 1t is a delicate. subject
touch, be cause many people under
stand conversation to be talk; not
the exchange OF ideas, but 0t verbs;
and the Drawer would not like to say
ANYTHING to increase the flow of the lat
ter. We read of times and salons IN
which real conversation existed heto
nv men and women. Are they alto
gether in the pastP We believe that
men do sometimes converse. DO Wo-
men ever? Perhaps so. In those hours
sacred to the relaxation of undress ana
the back hair, in the upper penetraIIa
of the household, where two or three OF
six are gathered together on and about
the cushioned frame intended for re-
pose, DO they converse, or indulge IN
that sort of chat from which not II
idea is carried away No n reports
fortunately, and we do not know. But
do all the women like this method of
spending hour after hour, day after
day-indeed, a lifetimeP Is it IN
vigorating, even r~estful? Think OF the
talk this past summer, the rivers and
oceans of it, on piazzas and galleries IN
the warm evenings or the tresher
mornings, in private houses, on hotel
yerandas, in the shade of thousands OF
cottages by the sea and in the hills! As
you recall it, what was it all about?
Was the mind in a vapid condition al
ter an evening of it? And there is SO
much to read, and so much to think
about. and the world is so interesting,
if YOU do think about it, and nearly
every person has some peculiarly OF
mind that would be worth study II you
could only get at it! 1t is really we
repeat, such an interesting world, and
most people get so little out of it. Now
there is the conversation of hens, when
the hens are busy and not selt-con-
scious; there is something fascinating
about it, because the Imagination may
invest it with a reconcile and SPICY
mean 'ng; but the common talk OF peo-
nile! We infer sometimes that the hens
are not saying anything, because they
do not read, and consequently their
minds are empty. And perhaps we
are right. As to conversation. there
is no use in sending the bucket into the
well when the we'll is drv-it only
makes a rafting of windlass and chain.
The Drawer does not wish to be I'M
derstood as an enemy Of the light
traffic of human speech. Deliver us
from the didactic and everlastingly i'm
proved style of thing! Conversation in
order to be good. intellectually inspir-
ing, and spiritually ~restful, need not
always be serious. 1t must be alert
and intelligent, and mean more by its
suggestions and illusions than is said.
There is the light touch-and-go play
about topics more or less profound
that is as agreeable as heat lightning
in a sultry evening. Why may not a
person express the whims and Vagaries
of a lambert mind Of he can get a lam
bent mind) without being hauled up
short fcr 4, and plunged into a heated
dispute? In the freedom of real con-
Versation the mind throws out half
thoughts, p~aradoxes, for which a man
is not to be held strictly responsible to
the very roots of his being, and which
need to be caught up and played with
in the same tentative spirit. The dis
pute and the hot argument are usually
the bane OF conversation and the death
of originality. We like to express a
notion, a fancy, without being called
upon to defend il, then and there. in
all its poss bic consequences, as if il
were an article in a creed or a plank in
a platform. Must we be always either
vapid or seriousP
The Drawer has been obliged to take
notice Of the extraordinary tendency
of American women to cultiya
ton, to the Improvement Of thu
mind, BY 9 of reading, clubs
and other intellectual exercises
and to acknowledge that they are leav
ing the men behind; that is, the mel
not in the so-called professions. i
this intellectualization beginning Il
show in the conversation of womer
when they are together. say in the
hours Of relaxation in the penetrate
spoken of, or in general societyP i
there less talk about the fashion o
dress, and the dearness or cheapness 0
materials, and about servants. and thl
ways of the inchoate citizen called tn
baby. and the infinitely little details 0
the private life Of, other peopleP Is i
true that If a group of men are talking
say about politics. or robust business
or literature, and they are joined b
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